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The Calvinistic Atheist’s Attitude to God

After sharing my comments about the Stephen Fry quote yesterday, I realised that the kind of God that he rails against is very much like the image of God presented by Calvinst theology.

He rails against a God he sees as controlling every aspect of creation and is therefore a God responsible for the state of the world: who has ordained it to be that way.

If I had that image of God, I’d very likely find atheism an attractive option.

But that is NOT the God revealed through scripture and it is not the God revealed through Jesus Christ.

…as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God

Don’t blame God for what man’s sin has done to the world. Be grateful for the gift of His Son. Believe in Him and the light and life He brings.

What complete and utter twaddle.
There’s nothing Calvinistic in what I expressed there.

Freedom of speech has become an idol to many and they think THEIR right to say whatever THEY want is more important than the potentially destructive effects of their words.
God has given us freedom to say what whatever we choose to say, whether good or evil. But that freedom of speech comes with consequences. He will judge us all according to every word spoken.

I have wondered if the rise of atheism is related to the rise of Calvinism.

1) The God of Calvinism is not the God of the Bible in any consistent way. The Calvinist God is not good nor worthy of praise.
2) Calvinists tend to be as jerkish as their invented God.
3) The God of Calvinism fits in well with the God of the Koran and both elicit much vehement rhetoric from their followers, luckily Calvinists are not yet as ready to kill those who disagree as Muslims are, nor as much as Calvin himself did, but one thinks they would if they could.

There’s a possibility that the “faith” of many atheists is based on a reaction against the type of God portrayed by Calvinist theology.

For me, if atheism and Calvinism were the only options I think I’d rather be an atheist than try to worship a God who has unilaterally determined whether I am saved or damned. A God who has sovereignly determined everything that happens within the world, whether good or evil. [While most Calvinists would deny believing such a thing, that only shows they haven’t really considered the clear outworking of their theology in practice]

I find such a God unworthy of being praised or trusted, no matter how supremely powerful He may be. I’m very grateful that such a God is NOT the God revealed in scripture.